Waltz of the 101st Lightborne
Joanna Newsom Lyrics

I believed they had got what they came for
I was under the impression that they had achieved their goal

I believed our peril was done
I thought our danger had passed

On the eve of the last of the great wars
Just before the final battle of the major conflicts

After three we had narrowly won
After three victories, we had barely emerged as winners

But the fourth
However, the fourth victory

It was carelessly done
Was accomplished in a careless manner

Saw his ship in its whistling ascension
Witnessed the ship rising with a whistling sound

As they launched from the capitol seat
As they set off from the capital location

Swear I saw our mistake
I sincerely believe I witnessed our error

When the clouds draped like a flag
When the clouds covered the sky resembling a flag

'Cross the backs of the fleet
Stretching across the backs of the group of ships

For the Hundred-First Lightborne Elite
Belonging to the highly skilled Hundred-First Lightborne Elite

As the day is long
Just like the duration of a day

So the well runs dry
In the same manner, the well dries up

And we came to see time is taller
And we eventually realized that time holds more significance

Than space is wide
Than the vastness of space

And we bade goodbye
And we said farewell

To the great divide
To the significant separation

Found unlimited simulacreage to colonize
Discovered endless fabricated landscapes to occupy

But there was a time we were lashed to the prow
There was a period when we were tied to the front of the ship

Of a ship you may board, but not steer
Of a ship that you can enter, but not control

Before you and I ceased to mean now
Before the significance of 'now' ended for you and me

And began to mean only right here
And started to represent only this particular place

To mean inches and miles, but not years
To represent small distances, but not long periods of time

Before space had a taste of its limits
Before the boundaries of space were evident

And a new sort of coordinate awoke
And a different method of location identification emerged

Making time just another poor tenant
Causing time to become an insignificant occupant

Bearing weight, taking fire, trading smokes
Enduring burdens, enduring attacks, exchanging distractions

In the war between us and our ghosts
In the battle against our own memories and regrets

But I saw the Bering Strait and the Golden Gate
However, I witnessed the Bering Strait and the Golden Gate

In silent suspension of their golden age
In a quiet pause from their previous glorious times

And you can barely tell, if I guard it well
And it's difficult to perceive, unless I protect it carefully

Where I have been, and seen
Where I have traveled and what I have witnessed

Pristine, unfelled
Untouched, unharmed

I had a dream that I walked in the garden
I experienced a dream where I strolled through the garden

Of Chabot, and those telescope ruins
Of Chabot, and the remnants of telescopes

It was there that I called to my true love
It was at that place where I called out to my genuine love

Who was pale as millennial moons
Who had a complexion as pale as thousand-year-old moons

Honey, where did you come by that wound?
Darling, how did you acquire that injury?

When I woke, he was gone
When I woke up, he had disappeared

And the war had begun
And the conflict had commenced

In eternal return and repeat
In an endless cycle of repetition

Calling, where in the hell are the rest of your fellow
Yelling, where on Earth are the remaining members of your

One Hundred-One Lightborne Elite?
Hundred-One Lightborne Elite?

Stormed in the New Highland Light Infantry
Attacked by the New Highland Light Infantry

Make it stop, my love
Please make it cease, my love

We were wrong to try
We made a mistake in attempting

Never saw what we could unravel
We never foresaw the consequences of what we could unravel

In traveling light
By journeying without carrying much baggage

Nor how the trip debrides
Nor the fact that the journey strips us bare

Like a stack of slides
Similar to a pile of transparencies

All we saw was that time is taller than space is wide
All we realized was that time carries more weight than space

That's why we are bound to a round desert island
That is why we are trapped on a circular deserted island

'Neath the sky where our sailors have gone
Underneath the sky where our sailors have departed

Have they drowned, in those windy highlands?
Have they perished, in those windy mountainous regions?

Highlands away, my John
Farewell to the highlands, my John

Highlands away, my John
Farewell to the highlands, my John